The following are my tasting notes from 10/26/04.
I am only aspiring wine critic/writer, so 'bear' with me.
What a discovery! One must smile drinking this spectacular blend of 95% Shiraz and 5% Viognier.
Dark, dark magenta red with saturated purple hue precedes medium to full body of silky smooth texture. Intense, complex, smile provoking powerful, rich and wonderful bouquet of cherry, needle forest soil, sweet wet herbs with hints of apple pie crust is followed by amazingly pure, clean, perfectly balanced, refreshing and never tiring palate. The finish is clean and re inviting.
Iâ€™d drink this wine next 3-5 years.
It is imported by Epicurian Wines, Seattle.

What is it they say? "One man's pleasure is another man's poison. Well the Black Chook was poison to me. Try to find a bottle of Zonte's Footstep Shiraz/Viognier...blows the Chook away. BTW, wineseven, welcome to the board.

Black Chook? I'm not usually crazy about Australian Shirazes with Viogner. In the same price range I would try 3 Rings shiraz (minus the viogner). Or, if you're really going for it, Henry's Drive Shiraz has the inky depths as well as good structure.

Typically no, especially if it's Australian.
The French seem to do it subltly enough, occasionally. Then again, I may have had an Australian that I liked, which was done subtly enough I didn't know it was that blend.

Hudson, that would be my definition of solid winemaking--when blending is done to create balance and neither highlight one or the other(s) grape varieties nor get promo mileage out of using their names.